Dragon's Shadow
by Xearo the White Hand
Summary: First Online Story. It's Based on Dragon's Blood by Jane Yolen. Xearo and Jakkin are bonders, who are almost slaves, who get paid very little. Their master runs the nursery in which they work. There they must take care of dragon's and do their masters bid
1. Bonder's Baggage

Dragon's Shadow

By

Xearo the White Hand

Chapter 1

Bonder's Baggage

Xearo woke up as he normally does, tired. The rest of the bonders were gathering to talk as they changed into their bond cloths. Xearo was already dressed, sense he slept in the clothes he'd need for the next day. He walked, or slugged, his way over to a group of kids.

"Well look at this; Xearo and Jakkin are twins! Both muted until they get some of the magical takk of life." That was Slakk's normal morning conversation, and for some reason the other boys found it funny no matter how many times they talked about it. Xearo just shook his head and moved them aside, and being about six foot four, no one tried to stop him as a joke.

He washed his face and hands at one of the sinks they had at the Bonder's House. This is where, as the name tells, the bonders sleep. Now all bonders have a master, but not all masters are nice. These bonders were very lucky to have a nice master, but the work was very hard and the pay was not the greatest. However, to some bonders, the job was worth it. Xearo and Jakkin were those bonders; they love dragons. And _that_ is the job of bonders. They must take care of dragons in whatever way their masters demand. Xearo was the strongest of the bonders, some say stronger than Master himself, so he usually got the most physical job.

Xearo shook himself out of the daze and walked out with Jakkin to the Mess Hall. They found Slakk and the other boys sitting at a table rather close to the door leading towards the Bonder's House. Once they sat down, Xearo poured them some takk. Xearo drank it so fast that Slakk made a joke saying he inhaled his food. Xearo of course had to laugh.

"Hey Xearo why don't you have the, well you know, the KK brand?" Little Lekkon was always so curios, however, almost everyone else was wondering the same thing, so Xearo answered.

"I do, it's just it's easier to say Xearo than Xearokkian or even Xearokk. My _real _name is Xearokk but my mother used to call me Xearokkian sense I'm, well not to brag, but hard as a rock." Well Xearo realized he had set himself up for _some _form of a joke. Slakk was the one who made it up; which was not surprising.

"Yeah, but which part did you mean?" The other boys were laughing so loud, some of the other; older bonders looked over to see what was going on. Xearo merely replied with his own joke.

"No I didn't say now did I? I meant my fist, which could easily fit in your huge mouth if you don't quit with the quote unquote funny jokes." The older bonders heard him and laughed at Slakk. Xearo gave him a friendly punch on his shoulder. Slakk and the others had to laugh a little. Xearo smiled and sat back, pleased to have made everyone's day a little bit better.

"So Xearo, explain to Hildakk what bonders do. He's a new bonder, fresh out of the mom." Some of the boys laughed at Jilkk's comment. Xearo merely gave a glare that silenced him.

"Well, Hildakk, bonders are mainly servants, hell almost slaves; but that's not the point. We work with dragons, taking care of them in anyway needed, which all depends on what the master, the owner of all of the bonders, wants to do. The master should be wealthy enough to have his or her own medical building and garden. Plus, the master, of course, will have the dragon's area. That's where we work, so you see, it's simple, our life is fewmets and dust. Dust and fewmets." Jakkin and a few others laughed at his statement of dust and fewmets. Hildakk had his head down, as if pouring over the information to make sure he didn't miss anything. Xearo got up when the bell rang for work, and walked over to Hildakk.

"Kid, if anyone gives you any trouble, just tell me. That goes for any questions too." Hildakk smiled and seemed to have a greater respect for bonders from then on.


	2. Dragons

Chapter 2

Dragons

Xearo walked out with Jakkin into the courtyard. They both had to bathe Blood Brother and Bloody Flag, which was not going to be easy. Xearo would probably end up pushing Blood Brother if he was as stubborn as he was yesterday.

"Always the tough dragons, huh?" Dojakk was another fellow bonder; he was Xearo's brawl companion. Xearo sighed; he would either get out without a spot of anything, or be dirtied to hell. Xearo prayed that it wouldn't require him to wash this set of work cloths. He had just finished washing them earlier that morning. Dojakk had to break off towards the incubarn, to make sure everything was alright.

Xearo and Jakkin had unlocked Blood Brother's Stall and rang the bell, which signaled that a dragon was in the halls, in a record time of about 5 minutes. Xearo's luck was not good; he was forced to push Blood Brother until he finally stood up and walked the rest of the way to the bath. Getting him _in _the bath was much, much easier. He practically jumped in. Xearo and Jakkin sat down on the overview "swing" and watched Blood Brother role and play as if he were a hatchling.

"Look at that load of lard! He's such a baby, in a weird way." They laughed and continued watching Blood Brother as he played in the bathe. He finally settled down and fell asleep with only his nose above the mud. Xearo was already tired from pushing that "load of lard". Jakkin and Xearo both laid back on the swing and let the peaceful aura soak into their minds. They both, unintentionally, fell asleep on the swing.

Xearo woke up to feel a very rough object scrubbing his back. It was Blood Brother! Xearo was still laughing when Blood Brother stopped and did the same to Jakkin, who woke up screaming at the worm.

"OW! HEY! You dumb worm that hurts!" Xearo was laughing even harder now, almost crying. Jakkin finally got the stud to stop and he got up and started scrubbing the dragon, limping as he went. Xearo saw this and stopped him.

"Old Lik' An' Spittle will kill you if he finds this out. Not that I'd let him but, you might even get a debagging." Jakkin's face went pale. Xearo patted him on the back, softly, and went over to Blood Brother.

"Let's get this lard bag back before we get in trouble. And man do I have a headache!" Xearo had just realized that his head was pounding like a dragon's heart. He almost past out when he was rinsing Blood Brother off. Finally the two of them mustered the strength to pull the dragon out into the halls. Only halfway down the hall did they realize they had forgot to ring the bell.

They got a little farther when Slakk and Errikkin realized that they were coming. They jumped up and off to the side as quickly as their legs could carry.

"Fewmets you two! Why the hell didn't you tell us! You could have squashed us!" Jakkin and Xearo ignored Slakk and all his comments and proceeded to shove Blood Brother into the stall. Blood Brother smelt the fresh food and didn't need anymore prodding. Errikkin and Slakk walked in and saw Jakkin's leg.

"That looks awful red; did you loose any skin? Does it even hurt?" Errikkin as usual was always concerned about people, not matter if it's a splinter or a missing limb. Before Jakkin could answer, Errikkin noticed something else, "HOLY FEWMETS! Xearo you have a nasty gash on your back! You too need to go get some help." Xearo hadn't even noticed it, he seemed to have just thought it was a headache.

"I told you that one was dangerous! They ought to send him to the stews before someone gets killed!" Both Xearo and Jakkin were angry at this statement.

"He was just being playful, and grateful, and – Worm Waste!" Jakkin suddenly remember that he left something else at the baths, "Damnit! I forgot the bagged brush in the baths!" Slakk jumped up again.

"I'll get it!" Before any of them could say anything, Slakk was running down the hall. He slowed down, realizing that if he went slowly enough, they'd start on Bloody Flag's stall.


	3. Blood KKarnage

Chapter 3

Blood KKarnage

Slakk finally reached the baths. Well, there it was; hanging on the hook dangling from the "swing". Slakk grabbed it and turned around to start his walk back, when he ran into what felt like a brick wall.

His first thought was that Xearo had run down there to help him. However, when he looked up and saw who it was… he was almost paralyzed from fear. Likkarn was standing over him with his dragon red eyes.

"Well, what piece of shit do we have here? Leave something behind worm waste?" Likkarn's voice was like death in it's self already. Slakk was stuttering over his words… as if he were deciding whether to tell the truth, or try and cover up for Jakkin.

"I… it wasn't…. I didn't do it… it was… it was…" Slakk whispered his answer as if it would forgive his betrayal, "It was… it was Jakkin." Likkarn let go of his grasp a little… then dragged Slakk along down the hall to the stalls.

Likkarn was outside of the stalls, but his essence was aggravating the female dragons, and Xearo felt something wrong. He was still unsure of what it was, but he looked at Jakkin who was helping with cleaning the outside part of the stalls.

"Jakkin… where's Slakk? He should have been here by now." Jakkin stood up and shrugged. However, he was interrupted by Blood Brothers houghing. Jakkin looked over at him… shocked. Xearo moved between them, pushing Jakkin backwards. Houghing is never a good sign… if a dragon starts houghing… run as fast as you can to the nearest extinguisher.

"Go… go… NOW!" Jakkin obeyed and ran out… but ran right into the brick wall. Jakkin looked up; he too, was paralyzed with fear. Jakkin was stuttering the words of about twenty sentences. Likkarn just stared at him, and then spoke with the deathly voice.

"Well, I think it's time a finally put you in for it Jakkin Stewart. I think a debagging of your little bag will do just fine… and no more dragon baths for you." Likkarn smiled with his victorious battle fought. Jakkin just stood up and kept trying to warn Likkarn of the dragon. However, Jakkin was thrown aside by Xearo, who almost leveled Likkarn in to the wall.

Likkarn stood up and was about to start fighting back when the roar of Blood Brother was heard through out the halls. Likkarn stood back as Xearo turned around to see Blood Brother knocking the 2 ton wooden door off its hinges.

"Likkarn, bro… I think… I'm going to need help with this one." Xearo pulled out his favorite concealed weapon, the Shan-Hiei. It was basically just a pole that shortened up into a single six inch piece. Only brawl contestants were aloud to have one. They weren't very strong, so not many people would need or want to have one anyways. However, they did give off a decently strong electric shock. He almost never uses it, never has to; but after the night some kids from a rival brawl jeesh tried to jump him, he carried it all the time.

Xearo would have to hit it in certain places at just the right time; it was almost impossible to do it, but Xearo wasn't aiming to kill the beast. He merely wanted to get its attention away from Likkarn, who was going to move slowly towards the extinguishers. Xearo stood still as the dragon roared on and on. Finally, it looked down at Xearo. It was rather displeased with him. Xearo waited for Blood Brother to shift his wait to his right front foot, like he always does. Although he was unsure Blood Brother would do it… it didn't shock him to see it happen.

Xearo took 2 steps foreword moving his body between the dragon's legs. He then stopped and hit the backside of the right front foot. The tensing of the muscles would make it a great target for an electric shock, but Blood Brother was in too much of a rage to notice. He merely stumbled and took a swipe at Xearo, who was now in front of him. Xearo tried to move fast enough, but he was not God. The claw caught on his shirt, ripping it from his body.

The back claw barely touched his skin, leaving a minor scratch. Xearo stumbled backwards and set up for another strike. He was now standing over Jakkin's body; directly under the head of the beast. Xearo only saw the turning of Blood Brother's head and only heard the retort of the extinguisher. He look quickly to Likkarn then at Blood Brother; perfect shot, directly between the eyes….

Thoughts……

Blurs…….

Memories of things not to be remembered…..

Voices…..

Xearo opened his eyes; but what he saw almost made him pass out again. Only his left eye saw, his right eye… where was his right eye! Xearo sat up, ignoring the extreme pain in his head and back.

"WOA! Sit down Xearo, you're not going anywhere after that." A voice… a lovely pleasant voice that seemed familiar to him. Who… where… Xearo looked around, trying to see where he was… he had a hard time seeing as he now only had ONE EYE! White… o GOD! He must be in the Hospice! The thought of letting Aren see him like this almost made him want to die. Aren… that was the voice! He looked over at the bed next to him. JAKKIN! Xearo got up but was pulled down immediately.

"No Xearo. He's fine don't worry. Look… let me tell you what happened." What? What happened? Aren was making no sense! She sat down on the end of the bed, hands forming a U shape around her chin. Even with one eye, Xearo still thought she was beautiful, as he always did. Everyone else knew they liked each other; it had been going on for years. They just didn't really bother with pair bonding.

"Look, you remember up to…. What point?" It all made sense… he was fighting Blood Brother… then Likkarn shot the beast… then… then… blank. He must have been thinking aloud because Aren started the story.

"Blood Brother's blood hit Jakkin on three points on his back. A few drops hit you on your right eye… don't touch the patch just yet… wait another 10 minutes or so… well you lost your real eye is pretty much as easy as I can say it. Plus the dragon fell on you… but anyways… Master paid for an operation… that's why you have the patch… when you remove it… you'll see what the operation was for." Aren… so bland… so confusing… AND GOD DID HIS HEAD HURT! That's all he remembered…

Voices…

Echoes…

Memories of things that should not be remembered…

Laughs…

Then peace…

Author: so… very rushed I know… wait till I get started on the important stuff… No… Xearo is not dead… I know a lot of you are prolly wishing that at this point so I can stop writing this crap! (o.00.o) I'll keep going until someone says "STOP! YOUR STORY SUCKS! SO STOP TRYING TO LIVE OUT YOUR PATHETIC MISERABLE LIFE!"


End file.
